Using Media to Promote Gender Equality

English |中文 

Media plays a very important role in our daily life. Media helps form our social values. Partnering with private sector organizations, UN Women has been promoting the use of media, especially social media, as a powerful tool to advocate for elimination of violence against women and promote gender equality.

  • Implemented by Eastern Campus, a PR firm, one project engaged young university men in the prevention of violence against women through social media and campus-based activities in 2011.  The “Zero-violence, let’s do it together 17-MAN” online campaign attracted over 49,000 followers on various Weibo sites.  More than 3,500 signatures were collected from youth both online and on campus during the EVAW Day campaign.
  • UN Women supported the Hong Kong-based NGO Half to Sky to develop two Public Service Announcements (PSA) as part of a Chinese “Ring the Bell” campaign. Following the successful Ring the Bell campaign in India, the PSAs encourage the public to knock on a neighbour’s door when they overhear domestic violence in order to stop the violence with a face-saving excuse.
  • UN Women co-hosted with NetEase.com, one of China’s most popular websites, the 2010 and 2011 Women’s Media Award Ceremonies. The 2010 awards went to the ten most gender-sensitive TV commercials for the way they challenged society’s stereotypes of what women and men should be like. The 2011 awards went to 10 outstanding women who made the news that year for their contributions to society and for being positive role models for young women and girls in China.